A group of Utica Academy for International Studies are bringing their world to elementary students each week.

The students – seniors at the International Baccalaureate high school – are continuing a weekly after-school foreign language club at Beck Elementary.

The goal, according to UAIS senior Riya Mathews, is to give the 20 students participating in the program a taste of different cultures and languages throughout the school year.

“We want them to be more open minded about what’s in the world,” she said.

UAIS Mathews, Binsu Varughese, Amna Wani and Magda Wojtara will be introducing students to Arabic, Polish, German, Spanish, French, sign language and a general internationalism every Friday afternoon.

Beck Elementary sixth-grader Brandon Bizze is participating for the second time in the club “because it is a lot of fun.”

He said he plans to continue studying languages.

“If you meet someone who speaks another language and you want to talk to them, it is important to know their language,” he said.

This is the third year that UAIS students have offered the club to students. The program was created and sponsored by now UAIS graduates Giuliana Cusumano and Kaelyn Fife.

Fife is studying Neuroscience at Lyman Briggs at Michigan State University and Cusumano is studying International Relations at James Madison College at MSU.

For the students, the project also fulfills their high school’s “CAS” requirement.
As part of their graduation requirements, students at the International Baccalaureate High School are required to perform 150 hours of CAS Creativity, Action and Service.